Witches

[Mari]

Witches

"And it harm none, do as ye will" -- Wiccan Rede by Doreen Valiente

Witches, like many of the other races on Yalanze, came from humans. Some witches claim that they just have a deeper connection to the land like werewolves and that it speaks to them in a different way. Witches are land shapers; That is to say that they work with nature to bend it to their will.

It really doesn't matter where a witch lives they can make their environment to suit their needs. Up until the Brigade was first formed many witches lived in Yalanzen villages and were tree farmers and barn raisers. They could get trees to go from saplings to veridant forests in a short span of time that stunned their human compatriots. With this ability came the slowing of the aging process which further alienated them from their human friends. It was not unheard of for a witch to outlive many generations of his or her village due to their connection to the land.

As with everything however, even Witches met with trouble when humans began using the Brigade to drive them out of their homes and burn them at the stake. This is ultimately why the Brigade packed up and left, they ended up being tasked to kill family members more often than not and they stood up en mass and said no. To this day many in the Brigade are witches as a result of those times.

Witches are resourceful. They control the magics of the land and other elements and can come in many different disciplines. From enchanters to bards to necromancers there is no one size fits all magic for witches. This has only been added to by the fact that the portals can be controlled by witches through diligence and practice. Some of the basic abilities for witches are the following:

Basic Powers:

• Mage Sight – The ability to see lay lines and magics that have been cast and the ability to see ghosts.
  
• Familiar Summoning – The ability to summon ones familiar to them or to request a familiar of the Gods
  
• Psychometry – The ability to sense information about an object via touch. This can be information about the object itself and its nature OR the owner of the object. Usually witches can only focus on one aspect of this power.
  
• Sensing – The ability to know when someone is another species. This can include seeing the outline of a beings true form even when hidden from view. Sensing can be done via one of the five senses. Some witches might be able to hear different tones when different species are near or pick up on different aromas.
  

Advanced Witch Powers

• Element Shaping – The ability for a Witch to control one element of nature. Mastery of this skill can take a lifetime
  
• Telekinesis – The ability to move objects with ones mind; This power starts out very weak but increases with age.
  
• Energy Manipulation – The ability to manipulate energies around oneself. Only ancient witches can survive channeling energies of this nature
  
• Weather Manipulation – This ability is often used in tangent with other powers and is usually very weak as a result. A witch might be able to make it rain but to do so too often could flood ones home rather than do what the witch intended.
  
• Portal Summoning – Witches can control the portals of Yalanze. This takes years of intense study and mental discipline. Only witches who have dedicated their lives to this task can control a portal with any reliability. Most of the time where a portal opens up to is completely random when the witch has not trained or focused.
  
• Slowed Aging – Because of their connection to the land witches have slowed aging. This is a gift from the planet itself and often times causes more harm than good as they outlive most of their non witch relations.
  

This list is just a hint of the possibilities for witches. They come in all races, and alignments. What sets a witch apart is their ability to work with energies outside of themselves and bend them to their will. Most beginning witches start out with three powers and develop a skill set based around one power set. A nature mage might be able to make trees grow or get them to form a home after a vast amount of practice for example.

Only the oldest witches can open the portals. This happens twice a year and the witch must join their powers with others in order to make this occur. That is why the Brigade has such strict rules on portals being opened for personal use. It is no trivial thing that is being done and if done incorrectly a witch can die being overwhelmed with the energy of the portals.